PART II
“The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat; this is MY body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying This cup is the New Testament1 in MY blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.... For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself.... For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”—I Cor. 11:23-30.
In the foregoing passages there is a deeply hidden esoteric meaning which is particularly obscured in the English translation, but in the German, Latin, and29 Greek, the student still has a hint as to what was really intended by that last parting injunction of the Savior to His disciples3. Before examining this phase of the subject, let us first consider the words, “in remembrance of me.” We shall then perhaps be in better condition to understand what is meant by the “cup” and the “bread.”
Suppose a man from a distant country comes into our midst and travels about from place to place. Everywhere he will see small communities gathering5 around the Table of the Lord to celebrate this most sacred of all Christian6 rites7, and should he ask why, he would be told that they do this in remembrance of One who lived a life nobler than any other has lived upon this earth; One who was kindness and love personified; One who was the servant of all, regardless of gain or loss to self. Should this stranger then compare the attitude of these religious communities on Sunday at the celebration of this rite8, with their civic9 lives during the remainder of the week, what would he see?
Every one among us goes out into the world to fight the battle of existence. Under the law of necessity we forget the love which should be the ruling factor in Christian lives. Every man’s hand is against his brother. Every one strives for position, wealth, and power that goes with these attributes. We forget on Monday what we reverently10 remembered on Sunday, and all the world is poor in consequence. We also30 make a distinction between the bread and wine which we drink at the so-called “Lord’s Table,” and the food of which we partake during the intervals11 between attendance at Communion. But there is no warrant in the Scriptures12 for any such distinction, as anyone may see, even in the English version, by leaving out the words printed in italics which have been inserted by the translators to give what they thought was the sense of a passage. On the contrary, we are told that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, all should be done to the glory of God. Our every act should be a prayer. The perfunctory “grace” at meals is in reality a blasphemy13, and the silent thought of gratitude14 to the Giver of daily bread is far to be preferred. When we remember at each meal that it has been drawn15 from the substance of the earth, which is the body of the indwelling Christ Spirit, we can properly understand how that body is being broken for us daily, and we can appreciate the loving kindness which prompted Him thus to give Himself for us; for let us also remember that there is not a moment, day or night, that He is not suffering because bound to this earth. When we thus eat and thus realize the true situation, we are indeed declaring to ourselves the death of the Lord, whose spirit is groaning16 and travailing, waiting for the day of liberation when there shall be no need of such a dense17 environment as we now require.
But there is another, a greater and more wonderful31 mystery hidden in these words of the Christ. Richard Wagner, with the rare intuition of the master musician, sensed this idea when he sat in meditation18 by the Zurich Sea on a Good Friday, and there flashed into his mind the thought, “What connection is there between the death of the Savior and the millions of seeds sprouting19 forth20 from the earth at this time of the year?” If we meditate21 upon that life which is annually22 poured out in the spring, we see it as something gigantic and awe-inspiring; a flood of life which transforms the globe from one of frozen death to rejuvenated23 life in a short space of time; and the life which thus diffuses24 itself in the budding of millions and millions of plants is the life of the Earth Spirit.
From that come both the wheat and the grape. They are the body and blood of the imprisoned25 Earth Spirit, given to sustain mankind during the present phase of its evolution. We repudiate26 the contention27 of people who claim that the world owes them a living, regardless of their own efforts and without material responsibility on their part, but we nevertheless insist that there is a spiritual responsibility connected with the bread and wine given at the Lord’s Supper: It must be eaten worthily2, otherwise, under pain of ill health and even death. This from the ordinary manner of reading would seem far-fetched, but when we bring the light of esotericism to bear, examine other translations of the Bible, and look at conditions in the32 world as we find them today, we shall see that it is not so far-fetched after all.
To begin with, we must go back to the time when man lived under the guardianship28 of the angels, unconsciously building the body which he now uses. That was in ancient Lemuria. A brain was needed for the evolution of thought, and a larynx for verbal expression of the same. Therefore, half of the creative force was turned upwards29 and used by man to form these organs. Thus mankind became single sexed and was forced to seek a complement30 when it was necessary to create a new body to serve as an instrument in a higher phase of evolution.
While the act of love was consummated31 under the wise guardianship of the angels, man’s existence was free from sorrow, pain, and death. But when, under the tutelage of the Lucifer Spirits, he ate of the Tree of Knowledge and perpetuated32 the race without regard for interplanetary lines of force, he transgressed33 the law, and the bodies thus formed crystallized unduly34, and became subject to death in a much more perceptible manner than had hitherto been the case. Thus he was forced to create new bodies more frequently as the span of life in them shortened. Celestial35 warders of the creative force drove him from the garden of love into the wilderness36 of the world, and he was made responsible for his actions under the cosmic law which governs the universe. Thus for ages he struggled on, seeking to work out his own sal33vation, and the earth in consequence crystallized more and more.
Divine hierarchies37, the Christ Spirit included, worked upon the earth from without as the group spirit guides the animals under its protectorate; but as Paul truly says, none could be justified38 under the law, for under the law all sinned, and all must die. There is in the old covenant39 no hope beyond the present, save a foreshadowing of one who is to come and restore righteousness. Thus John tells us that the law was given by Moses, and grace came by the Lord Jesus Christ. But what is grace? Can grace work contrary to law and abrogate40 it entirely41? Certainly not. The laws of God are steadfast42 and sure, or the universe would become chaos43. The law of gravity keeps our houses in position relative to other houses, so that when we leave them we may know of a surety that we shall find them in the same place upon returning. Likewise all other departments in the universe are subject to immutable44 laws.
As law, apart from love, gave birth to sin, so the child of law, tempered with love, is grace. Take an example from our concrete social conditions: We have laws which decree a certain penalty for a specified45 offense46, and when the law is carried out, we call it justice. But long experience is beginning to teach us that justice, pure and simple, is like the Colchian dragon’s teeth, and breeds strife47 and struggle in increasing measure. The criminal, so-called, remains34 criminal and becomes more and more hardened under the ministrations of law; but when the milder regime of the present day allows one who has transgressed to go under suspended sentence, then he is under grace and not under law. Thus, also the Christian, who aims to follow in the Master’s steps, is emancipated48 from the law of sin by grace, provided he forsake49 the path of sin.
It was the sin of our progenitors50 in ancient Lemuria that they scattered51 their seed regardless of law and without love. But it is the privilege of the Christian to redeem52 himself by purity of life in remembrance of the Lord. John says, “His seed remaineth in him,” and this is the hidden meaning of the bread and wine. In the English version we read simply: “This is the cup of the New Testament,” but in the German the word for cup is “Kelch,” and in the Latin, “Calix,” both meaning the outer covering of the seed pod of the flower. In the Greek we have a still more subtle meaning, not conveyed in other languages, in the word “poterion,” a meaning which will be evident when we consider the etymology53 of the word “pot.” This at once gives us the same idea as the chalice54 or calix—a receptacle; and the Latin “potare” (to drink) also shows that the “cup” is a receptacle capable of holding a fluid. Our English words “potent” and “impotent,” meaning to possess or to lack virile55 strength, further show the meaning35 of this Greek word, which foreshadows the evolution from man to superman.
We have already lived through a mineral, a plant, and an animal-like existence before becoming human as we are today, and beyond us lie still further evolutions where we shall approach the Divine more and more. It will be readily conceded that it is our animal passions which restrain us upon the path of attainment56; the lower nature is constantly warring against the higher self. At least in those who have experienced a spiritual awakening57, a war is being fought silently within, and is all the more bitter for being suppressed. Goethe with masterly art voiced that sentiment in the words of Faust, the aspiring58 soul, speaking to his more materialistic59 friend, Wagner:
“Thou by one sole impulse art possessed60,
Unconscious of the other still remain.
Two souls, alas61, are housed within my breast,
And struggle there for undivided reign62.
One, to the earth with passionate63 desire,
And closely clinging organs still adheres;
Above the mists the other doth aspire64
With sacred ardor65 unto purer spheres.”
It was the knowledge of this absolute necessity of chastity (save when procreation is the object) upon the part of those who have had a spiritual awakening36 which dictated66 the words of Christ, and the Apostle Paul stated an esoteric truth when he said that those who partook of the Communion without living the life were in danger of sickness and death. For just as under a spiritual tutelage, purity of life may elevate the disciple4 wonderfully, so also unchastity has a much stronger effect upon his more sensitized bodies than upon those who are yet under the law, and have not became partakers of grace by the cup of the New Covenant.
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1
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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worthily
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| 重要地，可敬地，正当地 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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blasphemy
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| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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rejuvenated
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| 更生的 | |
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diffuses
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| （使光）模糊，漫射，漫散( diffuse的第三人称单数 )； （使）扩散； （使）弥漫； （使）传播 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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repudiate
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| v.拒绝，拒付，拒绝履行 | |
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contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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guardianship
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| n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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consummated
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| v.使结束( consummate的过去式和过去分词 )；使完美；完婚；（婚礼后的）圆房 | |
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perpetuated
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| vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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transgressed
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| v.超越( transgress的过去式和过去分词 )；越过；违反；违背 | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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hierarchies
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| 等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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abrogate
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| v.废止，废除 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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45
specified
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| adj.特定的 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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47
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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48
emancipated
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| adj.被解放的，不受约束的v.解放某人（尤指摆脱政治、法律或社会的束缚）( emancipate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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progenitors
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| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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etymology
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| n.语源；字源学 | |
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chalice
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| n.圣餐杯；金杯毒酒 | |
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virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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materialistic
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| a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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aspire
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| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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